Custom injection molder and mold maker Plastikos Inc. is completing an upgrade of its machinery in a press replacement program.
Plastikos is spending up to $2 million to install 10 new injection presses and robotics, and to renovate and modernize administrative space and employee training areas, estimated Plastikos sales manager Dan Snyder in a phone interview from his firm's office in Erie, Pa.
“We're growing with existing customers and some new ones and this is to accommodate their needs,” he explained.
Synder said Plastikos has been on a press-replacement program for several years to make sure its presses have the latest technology for efficiency and quality. The latest batch of new presses are 88-tonners, maintaining its press count at 35. Overall it offers clamp tonnages of 66 to 220 tons. The presses are all-electric and high-speed models. Snyder declined to reveal the supplier.
“We're always reinvesting,” Snyder said.
Plastikos specializes in extremely small, tight-tolerance components. It does a lot of medical work, keeping its ISO 7 class clean room busy. Microfluid systems components and electronic connectors are other examples of its custom molding.
“We need to account and to prepare for strategic employee growth in the years to come,” said Plastikos President Philip Katen in a news release. “And, the machine replacement effort will provide us with additional capacity and enhanced capabilities that brand new high-speed molding machines afford. We felt this year was perfect timing to proactively tackle both efforts.”